My memoir is in the genre of the Pulitzer Prize book 2009 Olive Kitteridge, but with a Scarlet O'Hara heroine of tenacity.
Set in Kansas City, Missouri and encompassing the time of the 1970s through 2007, I take the guise of Julie, Jules, Ergi and Sandy and go from getting a driver's license in spite of family obstacles, a larger than life father whose love for his daughter is sensitive yet selfish, a friendship with a Kansas City Capo that enhances her teenage life, trying to love a man and living with a mother who is in competition and jealous of her, the mental illness Schizophrenia and a quest for justice when her freedom is in jeopardy.
Julie's mother and father dominate her life with a love that is protective yet stifling to her ambitions. Her Schizophrenia complicates her relationship with family and friends, yet when she loses her father, mother and brother she realizes they were true in their dedication, loyalty and love for her.
Each chapter is a short story that threads this Butterfly's parallel universe into distinct lessons and stories. The narrator evolves, grows and asserts herself as she takes a courageous stand for her independence as a woman.